Meet Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers. Ronnie is a die hard Cubs fan, well known through the village of Wrigleyville. Ronnie is a local celebrity and charitable business organizations and fans gladly provide him with tickets to games. Ronnie, being a celebrity and a bit of an eccentric, can pull off wearing a straight up Cubs uniform. Top to bottom. You, on the other hand, cannot. Reader Matt recently asked us if it was alright to wear a Franchise hat, rather than a 5950, with an authentic jersey. Our response to Matt, who is a St. Louis Cardinals fan:
Actually, despite the fact that we like authentic jerseys and the 5950 hat - pairing them together often has the danger of looking a bit overzealous and uniform like. I think toning it down with a well worn franchise hat is a great look. It makes you look more like a cool fan than some dude pretending to be a player.
My advice would be to wear the franchise hat when you have the jersey on and consider a 5950 if you're wearing a matching polo, or even a Cardinals sweatshirt to the game on a cooler fall evening. Lids (including their online store) sells a deodorizer for hats that can freshen up your franchise hat if you think it needs it (or more importantly if the significant other thinks it may need it). I would only really worry about washing it if it gets either white or brown stains on it. Fading, on the other hand, is a good thing - making you look like a hardcore fan.
In other words, unless you are a local celebrity, avoid looking like Ronnie Woo Woo. If you're going to wear both a hat and a jersey to the sports bar or the game - consider wearing the crushed hat instead of the authentic on the field hat. If you do decide to wear both the authentic hat and the authentic jersey, try wearing it with a pair of your favorite well worn and broken in jeans.
